#Cellular bubbles used to deliver Parkinson's meds directly to brain And what's the best way of getting her drug-packed exosomes to the brain?
"Exosomes are engineered by nature to be the perfect delivery vehicles for proteins and genetic material, "Batrakova says."
Biopharmaceuticals, or biologics, are produced proteins by living cells. Proteins such as catalase are tens of thousands of times larger than the small molecules that make up traditional drugs.
because you are directly targeting the underlying biochemical defect in obesity, "Durante said.""L-arginine is a natural amino acid commonly found in red meat, poultry, fish and dairy products.
but it also exerts other biological effects, and it can be converted by arginase to alternative compounds that counteract its benefits to the circulation."
Published online ahead of print in the leading microbiology journal Molecular Microbiology, the researchers have identified a building block common to many types of bacterial'virulence factors'(the bacterial proteins
"says first author Matthew Doyle, Phd candidate in the School of Biological sciences.""Our results are very exciting#we are not just talking about one molecule in one particular pathogen but rather a building block
"The discovery will also be useful in the biotechnology field for the development of a variety of marketable products
and processes which rely on coupling biological molecules to cell surfaces. The latest findings follow more than a decade of work led by Associate professor Renato Morona looking at how bacteria cause disease.
"said Daniel Fletcher, associate chair and professor of bioengineering, whose UC Berkeley lab pioneered the Cellscope."
and CD4+T lymphocytes. The assays for pathogens and cells were used as proof of concept to demonstrate the utility of several new detection and sensing technologies.
CD4+T lymphocyte capture and detectionaccurate CD4+T cell count is essential for HIV-1 diagnosis and treatment monitoring.
World health organization guidelines recommend antiretroviral therapy for individuals with a CD4+T cell count of less than 500 cells/ml.
Conventional CD4+T cell counting methods require an expensive flow cytometer a skilled operator, and costly reagents.
A disposable and flexible biosensing platform for efficient counting of CD4+T cells has potential to address some of these global health challenges in the point-of-care setting.
inexpensive assay for CD4+T cell count involved two novel technologies: a polyester film with microfluidic channels to capture the T cells,
The microfluidic channels were coated with an antibody that captures the CD4+T cells. A single drop of whole blood from a fingerprick was applied to the polyester film,
The shadow of the CD4+T cells that adhere to the channels can then be visualized on the polyester film.
Overall, the platform allows efficient CD4+T cell counting using fingerprick volume of unprocessed whole blood samples on disposable film at the point-of-care.
"says senior study author Mathew Garnett, a geneticist at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute.""We believe that these organoids are an important new tool in the arsenal of cancer biologists
and may ultimately improve our ability to develop more effective cancer treatments.""To study the causes of cancer
As a result, it has been challenging to predict the drug sensitivity of individual patients based on their unique spectrum of genetic mutations.
whether these cultures could potentially bridge the gap between cancer genetics and patient outcomes. In the new study, the researchers grew 22 organoids derived from tumor tissue from 20 patients with colorectal cancer
The genetic mutations in the organoid cultures closely matched those in the corresponding tumor biopsies and agreed well with previous large-scale analyses of colorectal cancer mutations.
In validation of the approach, the researchers identified previously reported associations between specific mutations and resistance to particular drugs.
indicating that the subset of cancer patients with RNF43 mutations would strongly benefit from a drug that inhibits a protein called porcupine."
based on biological information and performance in statistical analysis. Patients with pancreatic cancer were found to have increased levels of each of the three proteins
to realise a biological outcome, "Professor Wallace said.""This paves the way for the use of more sophisticated printers to create structures with much finer resolution."
and optogenetics, which insert proteins into the surviving retinal cells to make them light-sensitive. But the devices have a major shortcoming
"There are similar issues with optogenetics, Boynton said.""The optogenetic proteins that are currently available produce sluggish responses over time,
and they are limited in the number of different cell types that they can separately target,
In view of the presence of MOCOS in many organs and its involvement in numerous biological and neurobiological functions
while revealing new clinical and biological disturbances in these patients. This work therefore opens new pathways for research
"Differentiated hepatocytes have amplified their chromosomes, "he explains. That is, the cells have more than the usual two copies of every chromosome."
"This enables the cells to make more proteins, but it really compromises their ability to divide."
the labeled cells had only two copies of each chromosome. By following the descendents of the stem cells for up to a year,
taking on the specialized features and amplified genomes of mature hepatocytes.""This fits the definition of stem cells,
#Molecular cell cycle clock discovered that controls stem cell potency Singapore scientists from A*STAR's Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) have, for the first time,
"said lead author of the research, Dr Kevin Gonzales, Post Doctoral Fellow at the Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology at GIS."
"Co-lead author Research Fellow Dr Liang Hongqing at GIS'Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology added,
and atomic nuclei within molecules that take place in less than a tenth of a trillionth of a second--information that will benefit groundbreaking research in materials science, chemistry and biology.
and other biological tissues because of needle buckling or fracturing on penetration. A research team in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Information Engineering
which dissolves upon contact with biological tissue. Silk fibroin is used as the dissolvable film because it has high biocompatibility,
including recording/stimulation electrodes, glass pipettes, and optogenetic fibers.""He added:""This has the potential to reduce invasiveness drastically
"The study links a family of enzymes--molecules that act as biological catalysts--known as polyketide synthases (PKS) directly to a complex series of chemical reactions that ultimately add sulfur to leinamycin, a member of the polyketide family of natural products."
cystic fibrosis and many others are treated permanently through the science of genome engineering. Thanks to his latest work, Hubbard is bringing that future closer to reality.
Hubbard's research, published in the journal Nature Methods, demonstrates a new technology advancing the field of genome engineering.
and then"edit"them, replacing the damaged genetic code with healthy DNA.""There is a trend in the scientific community to develop therapeutics in a more rational fashion,
'Your disease is caused by a mutation in gene X, and we're going to correct this mutation to treat it'."
'"In theory, genome engineering will eventually allow us to permanently cure genetic diseases by editing the specific faulty gene (s)."Genome engineering involves the targeted, specific modification of an organism's genetic information.
Much like how a computer programmer edits computer code, scientists could one day replace a person's broken
"Currently much of the research in the field of genome engineering is focused on treating monogenic diseases--diseases that involve a single gene--as they're much easier for researchers to successfully target.
He hopes his current work will play a role in helping genome engineering reach its full potential
000 group A streptococcus genomes collected over decades. Researchers from Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston Methodist Hospital, institutions in Finland and Iceland,
scientists are able to sequence the entire genome of the bacteria, just as is done in humans.
and its relatively small genome, which allows the genome of thousands of strains to be sequenced completely relatively rapidly.
The researchers'original hypothesis, which turned out to be correct, was that changes in the genetic make-up of the GAS pathogen had underpinned new epidemics.
the collaborating international team sequenced the genome of thousands of disease-causing strains, precisely defining every base pair mutation in the strains."
"The surprise was that the changes involved alterations in the genes encoding two potent toxins that contribute to human infections,
Their in-vitro experiments uncovered a multi-stage biochemical process in which protein molecules are dissolved from the aggregates.
Protein aggregates can also occur through changes in the protein structure due to mutation or chemical or environmental stresses.
"says Phd candidate Daniel Hunter from the UNSW School of Biological, Earth and Environmental sciences.""The devil is the obvious answer.
"Hunter is the lead author of a study published in the journal Biological Conservation, which highlights the potential benefits of using the devil as a replacement apex predator.
and Joseph Wu, MD, Phd, professor of cardiovascular medicine and of radiology, teamed up with a group of genome-sequencing specialists to develop the new technique:
Wilson and Wu said that the gold standard of genome sequencing involves thousands of genes, costs $1,
it makes no sense to sequence the entire 22,000-gene genome, since fewer than 200 genes are known to affect the heart,
Moreover, whole-genome sequencing typically contains mistakes, so key mutations might be missed. To meet this challenge
Wilson and Wu's team designed a streamlined assay, or test, that looks at just the 88 genes known to carry mutations that cause heart problems.
Materials for the new test cost about $100, and results are back within three days.
This approach--surveying a small subgroup of relevant genes instead of the whole genome--is used already to test for other diseases, such as cystic fibrosis.
or clpps, were developed at the Stanford Genome Technology Center. These simple probes accurately target specific parts of the genome
and can be made in large batches at low cost. Because of their simplicity, they are customized easily to target different genes.
The heart disease clpp assay was cheaper, faster and more accurate than whole-genome assays. The Stanford team next plans to test the technique on a group of 200-300 patients.
"Wilson and Wu said the genome technology group has been working on the clpp technique for a long time.""Our goal is to make genetic testing more accessible to more people,
"Wilson said.""We want to democratize it. For now, we're going to release it free of charge: Researchers can get samples of the assay
In some ways it's making genetic testing open source.""The development of the new test is an example of Stanford Medicine's focus on precision health,
Chemistry & Biology. Making Leptin Last Longer Lerner's laboratory helped pioneer techniques for generating billions of different antibodies
the team edited the genetic code of a standard human antibody to replace one of its target-grappling elements--a structure that normally would bind to a virus, for example--with the protein leptin.
the Phd in biochemistry and molecular biology Gabriel Cabrera Betanzos designed a microencapsulation process from pomegranate juice
#Plant growth requires teamwork between two hormones The scientists used plants with mutations, which impaired the activity of brassinosteroids.
therefore necessary for the production of gibberellins--a mechanism that is highly relevant to the growth and development of plants,"says Poppenberger, Professor for the Biotechnology of Horticultural Crops.
Transcription factors are proteins that regulate gene expression. Once activated by brassinosteroids, they initiate the production of gibberellin."
"So using this method we can look at interactions between four biological components inside a cell in three-dimension and at very high resolution of about 10 nanometers,
"The applications are mostly in fundamental research and cell biology at this point, but hopefully it will lead to medical applications.
The cell nucleus is a ball of chromosomes wrapped in a protective fatty membrane. In this study, the researchers discovered that treating astrocytes with TGF-beta freed a small piece of the p75ntr protein to bind to nucleoporins,
At the same time, their CD4 T-cell counts increased and their rate of viral suppression increased by about one half.
In contrast, both the CD4 cell counts and the rate of suppression fell for those in the control arm."
such as interleukin 2, can"paralyze"CD4 T cells, immune components that help orchestrate the body's response to pathogens and other invaders.
it basically paralyzes CD4 T cells.""To be activated, T cells must first recognize an antigen, receive appropriate costimulatory signals,
The researchers believe this CD4 paralysis mechanism could play a role in preventing autoimmunity, a hypothesis they supported by testing immunotherapy in a multiple sclerosis model.
By shutting down CD4 T cells, immune stimulation prevented an autoimmune response. This offers the potential to paralyze the immune system to prevent autoimmunity
CD4 paralysis may also be coopted by pathogens, such as HIV, which could use this chronic inflammation response to disable the immune system."
"This really highlights the importance of CD4 T cells, "said Murphy.""The fact that they're regulated and suppressed means they are definitely the orchestrators we need to take into account.
The virus has been telling us CD4 T cells are critical because that's what it attacks."
#New embryo image processing technology could assist in IVF implantation success rates A collaboration between biologists
This breakthrough has important implications for IVF (in vitro fertilisation) treatments and pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD.
By altering the tension of the cells using lasers or genetic manipulations, researchers could change which cells move inside the embryo.
or pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) first organise their cells.""If in the future, we can combine our new image processing technique with non-harmful dyes that can label the membranes of human embryos,
and quickly recreate microenvironments found across biology. To illustrate the potential of their technique, the Illinois team mixed breast cancer cells and cells called macrophages that signal cancer cells to spread
Arraykilian said his team's synthetic microenvironment lies somewhere in the middle of two extremes in the field of modeling biology:
then you can ask fundamental biological questions.""Kilian said these questions range from the basic--how macrophages signal to the breast cells--to the more long-term:
"Now, researchers can ask more sophisticated biological questions than they could, "Kilian said. And they can do it quickly.
The NAPA invention was licensed by Protea Biosciences Group, Inc, . and commercialized under the REDICHIP#name in June 2015.
Additionally, the NAPA platform has shown the capabilities to analyze a wide variety of biomolecules and xenobiotics in a broad class of samples, making it the foundation for matrix-free laser desorption ionization.
Protea Biosciences Group, Inc. exclusively licensed the NAPA platform; in June 2015, the company commercialized the platform under the name of REDICHIP#i
The overall method developed could find broad applications in sequestration and bioremediation of water-soluble uranium and similar transuranic elements.
This biotechnology method could also have similar applications to other low-concentration ions in solution.
and Argonne National Laboratory turned to biology. There are no naturally occurring proteins known to bind uranyl,
and Biosciences Division, Heavy Element Chemistry Program under contract number DE-FG02-07er15865 to C. H
professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics, was able to change the specificity of an enzyme,
The findings, detailed online in Nature Chemical Biology on Aug 31, 2015 have widespread implications for a broad range of industrial, scientific and medical applications in
A major goal in biotechnology is to modify enzyme activity in order to carry out bespoke reactions. Current methods use genetic engineering to physically mutate enzymes.
However this is difficult to accomplish and requires detailed knowledge of enzyme structure and functional dynamics,
and are already in use as a platform for other applications by biotechnology companies. The team is now investigating other enzymes that might benefit from monobody technology,
keeping the whole biological machine running smoothly. But in diseases such as breast cancer, the breakdown of this order has been associated with the rapid growth and spread of tumors."
but also to experiment with specifically adding in a single cell with a known cancer mutation to different parts of the organoid to observe its effects.
An international team of researchers led by Christian Haass (Professor of Metabolic Biochemistry at LMU and Speaker for the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases in Munich) and Dr. Michael Willem (LMU) has made now a discovery
as a tenet of modern biology held that only viruses and living microbes such as bacteria could transmit disease.
but some inherited forms are associated with mutations in the alpha-synuclein gene. While the mechanisms aren't fully understood,
researchers believe these mutations predispose the normal proteins to misfold into infectious prions. Other factors,
The team demonstrated that it only takes 4 days for human MSA tissue to infect cultured cells with alpha-synuclein mutations,
They presented their findings Aug 26 at the 37th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society in Milan, Italy.
An advantage of this system is that magnetic fields are able to pass freely through biological tissues,
followed by thorough clinical, biochemical and molecular biological investigations, the researchers found the causative mutation
and characterized the disease which is given the name RCDP5. The researchers believe that studies of the effect of the newly discovered genetic error will provide new insight into other diseases.
whom he suspected were both carriers of the unknown disease causing mutation. After clinical and diagnostic odyssey in the following years,
Arraythe breakthrough came after years of meticulous work developing expert knowledge in the field of genetics at Uio and OUS.
and English researchers, were published recently in Human Molecular genetics t
#Timing of sleep just as important as quantity Washington state University researchers have found that the timing of an animal's sleep can be
For a long time molecular biologists believed that RNA is a short-lived storage medium. DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), the blueprint of every living thing, is transcribed into RNA,
it can catalyze biochemical reactions. The research group developed the molecular biology method MIME (Mutational Interference Mapping Experiment) to investigate the interaction of RNA with its respective interaction partners in detail.
This way the researchers obtain data for each type of mutation as well as precise mutation frequencies at any position of the RNA.
the functional consequence of every possible mutation can be quantified. The researchers can also determine which part and structural configuration of the RNA is investigated responsible for the function.
and hepatitis C. What they have in common is that the genome does not consist of DNA, but RNA.
scientists can determine how the genetic material of a virus is incorporated into nascent virions at the end of its reproductive cycle.
which mutations are tolerated by the virus and which not, a factor that is useful for the design of therapeutic RNA,
The research will be published by the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, the world's largest society of biomedical engineers."
and quality of life,"said V. Reggie Edgerton, senior author of the research and a UCLA distinguished professor of integrative biology and physiology, neurobiology and neurosurgery.
says Gerard Coté, professor of biomedical engineering and director of the Texas A&m Engineering Experiment Station's Center for Remote Health Technologies and Systems.
says a Texas A&m University biomedical engineering researcher who is developing the technology. The wearable technology combines motion sensors and the measurement of electrical activity generated by muscles to interpret hand gestures,
says Roozbeh Jafari, associate professor in the university's Department of Biomedical engineering and researcher at the Center for Remote Health Technologies and Systems.
That mechanism is a gene variant--an allele--found in a part of the genome that controls inflammation.
sequenced the genomes of more than 100 members of a Colombian family affected with early-onset Alzheimer's.
These individuals have a rare gene mutation that leads to full-blown disease around age 49. However, in a few outliers, the disease manifests up to a decade later."
"said co-author Kenneth S. Kosik, co-director of UCSB's Neuroscience Research Institute and a professor in the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental biology."
"We know they have the mutation. Why are they getting it so much later when the mutation so powerfully determines the early age at onset in most of the family members?
We hypothesized the existence of gene variant actually pushes the disease onset as much as 10 years later."
"Lalli used a statistical genetics approach to determine whether these outliers possess any protective gene variants,
"We know that age is the greatest risk factor for Alzheimer's beyond genetics, "said Lalli,
"Although the gene mutation in the Colombian population is extremely rare, this variant is added not, "he."
#Mathematical'Gingko trees'reveal mutations in single cells that characterize diseases A new interactive analysis program called Gingko has been released that reduces the uncertainty of single-cell analysis
and provides a simple way to visualize patterns in copy number mutations across populations of cells.
and provides a simple way to visualize patterns in copy number mutations across populations of cells.
Mutations come in many forms. For example in the most common type of mutation, variations may exist among individual people--or cells--at a single position in a DNA sequence.
Another common mutation is a copy number variation (CNV), in which large chunks of DNA are deleted
either from or added to the genome. When there are too many or too few copies of a given gene or genes, due to CNVS,
disease can occur. Such mutations have been linked not only with cancer but a host of other illnesses, including autism and schizophrenia.
Researchers can learn a lot by analyzing CNVS in bulk samples--from a tumor biopsy for example--but they can learn more by investigating CNVS in individual cells."
One powerful single-cell analytic technique for exploring CNV is whole genome sequencing. The challenge is that,
web-based program automatically processes sequence data, maps the sequences to a reference genome, and creates CNV profiles for every cell that can then be viewed with a user friendly graphical interface.
In addition, Gingko constructs phylogenetic trees based on the profiles, allowing cells with similar copy number mutations to be grouped together.
what we did with their genetics, "Marie says. For the vast majority of cells in this genome-wide screen, Chelsea Marie was correct;
E. histolytica decimated many thousands of these independent cell cultures. However, a small number of cells seemed to resist the parasite.
but also proof that this cancer-science approach can be used to explore genetic mechanisms of resistance in the field of infectious disease,
#Pancreatic cancer subtypes discovered in largest gene expression analysis of the disease to date Dense surrounding tissue can block drugs from reaching pancreatic cancer tumors,
In the study published in Nature Genetics today, researchers reveal findings of both new subtypes of stroma and two subtypes of pancreatic cancer tumors.
while for some other cancers, we personalize treatment based on an individual patient's tumor genetics or other characteristics,"said the study's senior author Jen Jen Yeh, MD, a UNC Lineberger member and an associate professor and the vice chair for research in the UNC School of medicine Department of Surgery."
They were then able to examine gene expression patterns for each type in tissue samples from five different institutions.
#New molecule found to prevent preterm birth Premature births are linked intimately with inflammation of the uterine tissue, a biological response
#Genome mining effort discovers 19 new natural products in four years It took two postdoctoral researchers, a lab technician,
said University of Illinois microbiology professor William Metcalf, who led the research with U. of I. chemistry professor Wilfred van der Donk."
because we know they are predisposed strongly to have biological activity--antibiotic activity, antiviral activity, herbicidal activity,
"Postdoctoral researcher Kou-San Ju used a technique called"genome mining"to search the genomes of 10,000 strains of actinomycete bacteria for pepm,
a single gene that is required for most types of phosphonate biosynthesis. Postdoctoral researcher Jiangtao Gao then worked with Ju to purify
"Genome mining has previously been used, but only with a few organisms at a time,"Ju said.""We wanted to know
The researchers then sequenced the full genomes of all 278 strains that had the gene.
The researchers describe the new findings as a proof of concept that genome mining can be used on a scale that will speed the process of drug discovery,
"Our study shows that genome mining is not only a viable route to new natural products, but that there are a tremendous number of new compounds awaiting discovery from the genomes of microbial strains,
"Ju said d
#New drug-like compounds may improve odds of men battling prostate cancer, researchers find Researchers at Southern Methodist University,
said biochemist Pia D. Vogel, lead author on the scientific paper reporting the discovery. So far there's no approved drug on the market that reverses cancer chemotherapy resistance caused by P-glycoprotein
or P-gp for short, said Vogel, a biochemistry professor at SMU. One potential drug, Tariquidar, is currently in clinical trials,
chemical and biological functions of the protein in the human body, will speed up the drug discovery process
Vogel and her co-authors, SMU biologist John G. Wise, and doctoral candidates Courtney A. Follit and Frances K. Brewer, reported their findings in the journal Pharmacology Research & Perspectives.
and found four that inhibited the biochemical function of P-gp, stopping it in its action.
said biochemist Pia D. Vogel, lead author on the scientific paper reporting the discovery. So far there's no approved drug on the market that reverses cancer chemotherapy resistance caused by P-glycoprotein
or P-gp for short, said Vogel, a biochemistry professor at SMU. One potential drug, Tariquidar, is currently in clinical trials,
chemical and biological functions of the protein in the human body, will speed up the drug discovery process
Vogel and her co-authors, SMU biologist John G. Wise, and doctoral candidates Courtney A. Follit and Frances K. Brewer, reported their findings in the journal Pharmacology Research & Perspectives.
and found four that inhibited the biochemical function of P-gp, stopping it in its action.
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